Child labour/Forced labour

Forced labour is any work or service performed against a person’s will under the threat of punishment. Found increasingly in the private economy in labour intensive and under-regulated sectors such as construction, agriculture, fisheries, domestic work, and mining as well as in prostitution, more than 12.3 million people are in forced labour today, and almost all countries are affected.

Child labour refers to work for children under the age of 18 that is mentally, physically, socially and/or morally dangerous or harmful and that interferes with their schooling. Forced labour and child labour are closely linked. They occur in the same geographical areas, the same industries and are mainly caused by poverty and discrimination, and up to half of all people in forced labour are children.

Child labour/Forced labour •News

The ITUC has welcomed the outcomes of a major international conference on eradicating child labour, held in Buenos Aires, and called on governments to show the political courage to tackle child labour and slavery in line with the Buenos Aires Declaration which was adopted at the conference.

The ITUC has welcomed the release of anti-slavery activists and the recent sentencing of slave owners as steps in the right direction, but recognises that a long way to go remains for Mauritania – one of the worlds’ most egregious labour rights violators, known to be a lasting stronghold of traditional slavery.

The announcement by President Gianni Infantino of FIFA that it will establish an oversight body to monitor working conditions on World Cup stadium sites in Qatar shows that FIFA is beginning to take responsibility for those whose work is essential to the holding of the 2022 event.

The International Labour Organisation has given Qatar 12 months to reform its labour laws and ensure effective labour inspection, or face the prospect of an ILO Commission of Inquiry being launched next March.